An 87-year-old man has baffled researchers, who have confirmed he is in good health despite not having bathed for more than 65 years and eating roadkill.
Amou Jaji gave up washing 67 years ago, after becoming convinced that it would bring him bad luck and eventually kill him.
What’s more, his diet now consists of raw roadkill, such as porcupine, and drinking water from puddles.
Due to his unusual lifestyle choices, Jaji has found it difficult to make friends or find a girlfriend.
His popular past-time of smoking a pipe filled with animal manure only further isolated him.
Despite his turn towards a solitary lifestyle, Jaji was amazed to find out villagers built him a shack to live in, as they were impressed with the dedication to his lifestyle.
Before then, he had been living in a hole in the ground.
Despite his lifestyle, medics who visited his shack in the village of Dejgah, in the southern Iranian province of Fars, carried out tests to find out Jaji has no unhealthy bacteria or serious diseases, and that he is surprisingly very healthy.
Experts were interested in studying what type of lifeforms, including parasites, might have taken up home on his body, and they were able to confirm that he does not have any diseases or any parasites, despite the lack of personal hygiene.
They were also surprised that he had not suffered any diseases through his preference for eating raw roadkill and refusing to sterilise the water he drinks.
The 87-year-old has also made efforts to keep up with current politics, as well as discussing historical events such as the French Revolution and Russian Revolution with those who have visited him.
Nevertheless, his newfound publicity has reportedly made life more difficult for him, as, although his neighbours respect him, he said people turn up occasionally to taunt him and even throw stones at him.
The local governor has now appealed for people to leave him alone, saying that despite his appearance, he is a gentle soul and never boring to meet or talk to.
Associate professor of parasitology, Dr Gholamreza Molavi, carried out the tests for the School of Public Health in Tehran.
The professor suspects Jaji has managed to remain so healthy due to developing an enormously strong immune system as a result of his diet and lifestyle.
He added that the medics tested him for everything from the various forms of hepatitis and AIDS through to parasites, and the only thing that they found was a Trichinosis infection, which is a parasitic infection that, in his case, appeared to be producing no symptoms.
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Abbi Murray